Wednesday, April 3, 2024 - Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi has warned Kenyans to prepare themselves to dig deeper into their pockets to afford sugar.
This is after he announced the looming increase in
sugar prices beginning this month.
In a letter to the Treasury CS Njuguna Ndung’u, Linturi
asked the government to extend the importation of duty-free sugar to substitute
for the local production shortage.
He cited the need to extend the existing waiver which
facilitates the importation of sugar from the Common Market for Eastern and
Southern Africa (COMESA).
According to the CS, sugar prices are set to rise in
April, as the current window on duty-free imports expires.
"The purpose of this memo is, therefore, to brief you
on the current status in the country and recommend your approval to extend the
Gazette Notice 14093 dated October 13, 2023, and Gazette Notice No. 10358 dated
2024 to June 30, 2024,” the letter by Linturi reads in part.
Linturi further proposed a two-month extension on the waiver
set to end on April 6, to cater to the country’s needs on one of the most
consumed commodities.
In the letter, Linturi notes that the country needs to
secure an additional 720,000 tonnes of sugar for the period between January
2024 and August 2024, from both imports and local production.
However, local production only caters to a certain
percentage of the commodity required, leaving a deficit of 192,000 tonnes to
imports.
Previously, a three-month halt on local sugar production saw
the prices rise to Ksh450 per 2kg bag. With the importation of duty-free sugar,
the current prices stand at Ksh390 per 2kg bag of sugar.
The Kenyan DAILY POST
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1 Comments
The opposition messed the affordable fertilizer and hence the shortage of sugar. 😥😥!!
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